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So, I know I'm basically the weird kid in the corner playing a game he made up, but I thought I'd share the work I've done over the last week or so on the Holy Soviet Empire faction for my wargame system.

I've gone with the philosophy of total austerity (as you might expect) - so 1/72 is definitely the scale for me, dirt cheap minis at often surprisingly good quality and allows for a far larger battlespace on a 6 x 4 table than 28mm does.

The infantry are WW2 Soviets - my paint scheme may have been more than slightly influenced by Red Alert 3, but hell, it works for me. The T-48 medium tank is based off a downloaded papercraft template for a 15mm T-54, which I scaled up, while the BTR APC is a Fiat 2000 template downloaded from the good folks at Landships II (thoroughly recommend checking out this site) - http://www.landships.info/landships/models.html.

The basic plan for the infantry was a dark red overalls, with fawn belts and black boots and helmets. I undercoated with cheap white acrylic, basecoloured with crimson, washed with brown/ burnt sienna ink and then drybrushed scarlet before blacklining and doing the detailing. Then a unifying wash of brown/black ink, thinned down. Bases were 20mm cardstock squares, painted Burnt Umber and flocked.

For the vehicles, I undercoated black and then basecoated with Vallejo's Russian Green - this was followed by a thin black ink wash, and a "wetbrush" with Russian Green, followed by mixing fawn into the green to create gradually lighter colours to drybrush with. I then used Vallejo brown for a very light drybrush simulating mud. Then the whole lot has had a coat of matt sealant spray to guard against wear.

Detailing on the tanks was courtesy of Sgts Mess accessories - I was very pleased with the service and price. Check them out here - http://www.sgtsmess.co.uk/modifications/goodies-for-mechanicals.html

Right, piccie time!

In case anyone is interested, here a few additions - Holy Soviet Empire HQ group, including Lieutenant, Comissar, standard bearer, RTO and a couple of riflemen. Backing them up is the mighty Rampager heavy assault tank, mounting twin 125mm cannons, a heavy machine gun and four light machineguns in independent turrets on each corner of the hull.

I like the hq!
It's nice to see 1/72 stuff on here, since it seems to be a rarity (which is a bit ironic since, marketwise, it's the opposite.)

Thanks man! I've never understood why more games aren't built round 1/72, 28mm is too big for big games (company level), and 15mm lacks detail and character (to my eyes) And 1/72 is so freakin' cheap!